Forum standards

Spokesman.com and all Web sites now or hereafter owned or controlled by The Spokesman-Review (collectively referred to hereafter as "SPOKESMAN.COM" or "we") contain various types of forums, including blogs, letters, comments, restaurant reviews, community forums, and more; and these forums are intended to facilitate community, discussion and debate on a variety of subjects. Although SPOKESMAN.COM wants such discussions to be as open and unfettered as possible, we expect all participants to abide by certain Forum Standards.

If you feel a thread, comment, review, or a particular user is getting out of hand and a moderator needs to step in, please let us know.

Usernames

In some instances the SPOKESMAN.COM forums do not require you to register as a user, making it easier to join discussions and, hopefully, encouraging more people to participate. This means that usernames are not reserved. If you see someone posting under a particular username, please choose something different. In forums where registration is required, usernames will be reserved and unique for each user.

Forum Posting Policy

You cannot upload to our websites, or distribute or otherwise publish through them, anything that is libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic or abusive, or that otherwise violates any law. SPOKESMAN.COM is not obligated to honor requests to remove posts except when such postings violate our editorial and business policies.

The forums can be used only in a noncommercial manner. You cannot, without the express approval of SPOKESMAN.COM, distribute or otherwise publish material containing any solicitation of funds, advertising or solicitation of goods or services.

Users who post to forums may have the option of making their e-mail address available to others. The availability of e-mail addresses can facilitate the development of our online community and ensure that users take a level of responsibility for their postings. Users also have the option of making other personal information available to others.

While we do not and cannot review every message posted in our varied online forums and are not responsible for the content of messages posted by anyone other than direct employees of SPOKESMAN.COM, we reserve the right to delete, move, or edit messages that we deem abusive, defamatory, obscene, in violation of copyright or trademark laws, or otherwise unacceptable. We reserve the right to remove the posting privileges of users who violate these standards of forum behavior at any time.

Repeatedly posting off-topic messages or "spamming" our forums by posting the same message in multiple topics or otherwise deliberately disrupting our forums is unacceptable behavior that may result in the user losing all forum privileges and access to our site(s). We reserve the right to prohibit users who in any way violate acceptable forum behavior from participating in our discussions. Users remain solely responsible for the content of their messages.

Forum Posting Etiquette

When discussing a news article or other posted content from any of the SPOKESMAN.COM websites, please refrain from reprinting the entire content in your post(s). Excerpts from articles are fine, and linking to external articles is encouraged.

Audio and JavaScript files are not allowed in the forums. Graphics are discouraged because poorly-sized graphics often make threads unreadable, and large graphic files make thread downloads unwieldy.

Inappropriate Forum Behavior

You agree not to post messages or other content or send emails with any illegal or harmful content, including but not limited to content that:

infringes copyrights, trademarks, publicity or any other rights of others;

is defamatory or libelous;

is abusive, harassing, or threatening;

is obscene, vulgar, or profane;

contains a virus or inhibits another person’s enjoyment of the website;

violates someone’s privacy;

impersonates anyone (actual or fictitious), is known to be inaccurate or contains a false attribution;

is racially, ethnically or religiously offensive;

is illegal or encourages criminal acts; or

could expose SPOKESMAN.COM or The Spokesman-Review to liability.

Reserved Rights

We reserve the right to delete, remove, edit or move any message that we deem, in our sole and absolute discretion, to be inappropriate.

Public Communications

You acknowledge that the electronic forums are accessible to the public and are not private communications, so others may read your communications without your knowledge. We encourage all forum users to always use caution when giving out any personally identifying information about yourself, your children or others. In addition, we do not endorse and cannot confirm the accuracy of any advice offered through the SPOKESMAN.COM forums. Forum users are encouraged to use caution when advice is offered and to perform their own due diligence before relying on any advice offered through the SPOKESMAN.COM forums.

Email Address

Your e-mail address may become public when you participate in electronic forums, if you choose to include it in a post. Please also understand that we reserve the right to disclose whatever personal information we may have about you as deemed necessary or appropriate to satisfy any law, regulation, legal process or governmental request.

Use of Information

In using the SPOKESMAN.COM online forums, you might obtain information about other users. You agree not to use that information in any way that you know or should know would cause direct or indirect harm or inconvenience to those people or anyone else.